DALLAS -- More than 3,000 North Texas businesses have registered to participate in a National Football League program that encourages woman- and minority-owned businesses to compete for Super Bowl XLV contracts.

Of those, 750 have been certified, approved and had their profiles published in an online Super Bowl guide. The NFL and host committee will promote the guide to NFL contractors, sponsors, hotels, municipalities and others.

The host committee's goal was to approve 750 businesses for the guide, said Robbie Douglas, its director of business development.

"We are really blowing away our numbers," she said Tuesday in Dallas, where the NFL and host committee held the third of three planned emerging-business workshops to introduce firms to the annual contracting program.

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The registration deadline was March 31. Businesses that have registered now must have their ownership certified by one of four agencies by May 31. After certification, businesses must still fit one of the Super Bowl's needs, ranging from catering to fencing, before being approved for the guide.